Macbeth - Ambiguity and Contradictions

React to our recent lessons on ambiguity and contradictions: How do ambiguity and contradictions within Shakespeare's work, specifically in terms of diction/paradoxes, stress and nonverbal communication play a role in the work? 

Shakespeare's Macbeth is an interesting experience for the reader due to the way the story interacts with its audience. The story starts by giving the audience an explanation of the major events that will unfold, a bold act that leaves the audience wondering why these actions will occur and how they will unfold. With Macbeth being a play, Shakespeare seems to want to give its audience an exciting venture into theatre that offers little breathing room as the audience is forced to think on its feet and guess the meaning of seeming contradictions, play on words, and insufficient information for both characters and the audience. 

Macbeth's Act 1 Scene 1 shows us the prophecy of the three witches that reveal how Macbeth is destined to become the King of the Scots but that "fair is foul and foul is fair," a contradiction that seems to imply that this Kinghood will not be all fine and dandy as expected, creating confusion and uncertainty as the audience doesn't know what to think of the prophesied events. The ambiguity regarding this position is not lost on Macbeth, who does not immediately believe what the witches are foretelling the truth. This ambiguity helps build suspense and creates expectations of what is to come in the play as, when the holes in the plot are made so big and clear for the audience to see, it becomes impossible for the audience not to try to fill the holes in the plot. To Shakespeare's end of keeping the audience in suspense, his use of ambiguity and paradoxes serve his purpose.